User blog:Reaper with no name/The Mystery of the S-11 Pulse Launcher
Go look at Gipsy Danger's page and read the weapon section. I'll wait. Back already? And you really did read it? Good. Now, I'm willing to bet that when your eyes hit the words "S-11 Pulse Launcher", you thought or said to yourself some variation of "What the heck is that?". And that is the big question of today's post. What is the S-11 Pulse Launcher, and more importantly, does it even exist in the canon? To be clear, the S-11 Pulse Launcher is supposedly a weapon that fires dark matter at Kaiju, destabilizing their molecular reality (whatever that means). We never see it used in the movie, so discussing its effectiveness is pointless and ultimately irrelevant to our inquiry. We only ever see Gipsy Danger's right arm utilize the rocket elbow attack. The fact that a left hand one was never used (despite ample opportunity during the course of the movie) suggests that the left arm doesn't possess one. Given that the right arm appears to be the same size as the left one, the idea of the S-11 Pulse Launcher being a corresponding weapon for the left arm makes a great deal of sense. However, the Jaeger Designer program lists the S-11 Pulse Launcher as an option for both the right and left arm. Obviously, the Jaeger Designer is not the primary authority on canonicity, but it would not be the first time two weapons were counted as one in Gipsy Danger's specs (it is listed as having one I-19 Plasmacaster, but in actuality possesses two plasma cannons). However, this brings up an important point. The primary authority on canonicity is the movie itself. And the Pulse Launcher is conspicuously absent from it. It doesn't seem to be in the entry for the Gipsy Danger in the "Man, Machines, & Monsters" book, either (technically, neither is the rocket elbow, but the "palm grip backlash" could be intended to reference it). It's not simply the fact that it wasn't used which is a problem, but the fact that it wasn't even referenced (even when it would have made sense to do so). This is a movie with such an absurd level of attention to detail that when the Gipsy Danger lands after its fight with Otachi, there is a blink-and-you'll-miss-it screen in the Conn-Pod reading "Coolant Low" (in reference to the fact that the Gipsy Danger had dumped most of its coolant earlier to freeze Otachi's tail). And yet, when Otachi is carrying Gipsy up into the atmosphere (with the Jaeger trying and failing to reach its head with its fists) and Raleigh is noting that they're out of options, the Pulse Launcher remains conspicuously unmentioned. It's a projectile weapon; it would have been perfect for that situation (what is Otachi going to do? Dodge while carrying the thing that is shooting it?). Yes, the entire scene was written to give them a reason to bring out the sword. But they went to the trouble of explaining why the plasma cannons weren't an option. It would have been both simple and logical for Raleigh to have said "Both plasma cannons and pulse launchers are shot". And yet he stuck with "both plasma cannons are shot". The fact that this elephant in the room was ignored (when the question of "why doesn't he use the plasma cannons again?" wasn't) suggests to me that the mysterious S-11 Pulse Launcher might not actually exist in the canon at all. Category:Blog posts